So I’ve noticed when I have my mic volume all the way up I get a lot of static and when I turn it down to 85, from 100, the static is nearly gone, but my I can barely hear myself. Now I could just change the volume of the audio file once I export it and edit it in Sony Vegas, but is there a way to increase volume without the need to change it in another program? Amplify only allows me to lower the volume.
That and I noticed my waves on my audio track are really low, like I guess since my mic volume is low, but about a year ago I remember the waves of my audio were much higher and I haven’t changed anything since then.
Now I could just change the volume of the audio file once I export it and edit it in Sony Vegas, but is there a way to increase volume without the need to change it in another program?
Boosting the volume after recording doesn’t improve the signal-to-noise ratio, but if it’s clipping/distortion that’s another story. (You hear noise during quiet parts and you hear clipping during loud parts.)
Amplify only allows me to lower the volume.
You should be able to increase the volume if you click the box that says “Allow Clipping”. If it can’t increase volume without clicking that box, you’ve the file is probably already clipped (distorted) and hitting the “digital maximum” of 0dB.
What does Amplify default to? Amplify scans your file and defaults to whatever gain is need to normalize/maximize your file. If Amplify defaults to 0dB (no change), your file is already normalized/maximized. If it defaults to a negative value, you are over 0dB. (Audacity itself and some file formats can go over 0dBFS but you can’t record at over 0dB and you can’ send over 0dB to your digital-to-analog converter without clipping).
Note that dB is relative and it can indicate the amplitude of the file or it can indicate a change. i.e. If your peaks are hitting -3dBFS and you amplify by 2dB, the new peak will be -1dB. Amplify would default to +3dB and after applying the amplification, the peaks would hit 0dBFS. Run Amplify again and it would default to 0dB (no change).
Although the waveform may “look small”, there is probably a maximum-volume peak somewhere in the file… It could be a click or some other “defect” or it could just be a short loud spot.